Red Steel 1: The Beginning of Red Steel
by Rabbitearsblog
Summary: This series will be about Colossus taking on a secret identity after the events of AvX and trying to help out the city, while trying to atone for what he had done during AvX. Also, there will be a new villain introduced that Colossus will have to face!
1. Prologue

Red Steel #1: The Beginning of Red Steel (An X-Men Fan Fiction)

Prologue:

Not too long ago, there was a great battle between the X-Men and the Avengers that would determine the fate of Hope Summers and her ascension to the Phoenix Force, which was threatening to destroy the world. Unfortunately, due to a bizarre twist, the Phoenix Force ended up taking over the bodies of X-Men members Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, Magik, and Namor and even though they temporarily ended world hunger and other such disasters around the world, they ended up destroying the world when the Phoenix Force took full control of their bodies. It wasn't until the combined forces of Scarlet Witch, who was responsible for the decimation of the mutant population and Hope Summers had stopped Cyclops, who had become the next "Dark Phoenix" when he took the powers of the other members of the Phoenix Five, and managed to put an end to the Phoenix Force once and for all. Unfortunately, now the Phoenix Five are on the run from the law, due to what happened with them being possessed by the Phoenix Force and one of the members who are on the run is the former gentle giant, Colossus.


	2. Chapter 1: The Gentle Giant on the Run

Chapter 1: The Gentle Giant on the Run

Piotr Rasputin, or is usually known as COLOSSUS, was running through the streets of New York City, trying to escape the disaster that happened back at Utopia, the X-Men's former home. As Piotr was running, flashes of memories started invading his mind as so many events had happened to him over the last few months that caused him to run for sanctuary, not knowing where to go or hide. He remembered when he first possessed the Cyttorak powers and become the Juggernaut in order to save his sister, Illyana's life. Unfortunately, it came with a cost as not only did he lose the love of his life, Kitty Pryde, but he also lost his humanity and knew nothing but evil thoughts on defeating his enemies. However, fate took a more tragic turn when Scott Summers, also known as CYCLOPS, decided to train Hope Summers for the Phoenix Force and believed that they could harness the powers of the Phoenix Force. Of course, Piotr knew this was dangerous since he saw first hand what had happened to Jean Grey, who was formally possessed by the Phoenix Force and the destruction the force had caused. What no one knew was that the Phoenix Force had possessed him and the other members of the X-Men and he could not control the destructive tendencies of the Phoenix Force. Fortunately, however, not only was the Phoenix Force able to knock out Cyttorak's influence over him, ridding him of the Cyttorak influence, but Hope Summers and Scarlett Witch were able to defeat the forces of the Phoenix Force, restoring mutant kind. Even though Piotr was happy for this, he knows that his life is now on the line since he is now a fugitive.

Where would he go? He can't go back to the X-Men, since he will be arrested and he cannot go back to the Jean Grey Institute since he did not want to risk the lives of the mutants who reside there and he still had not forgiven himself for what happened there. The only option he has now is to run away from the law and find a safe place to hide until everything quiets down.

After a few more miles, Piotr spots an old abandoned building that was in ruin and he decides to run in there. Once inside the building, Piotr starts walking around, seeing the ruin of the building and he thinks to himself:

"This building is decaying, just like my own identity and my hope. First, I was the Juggernaut, then I became the host of the Phoenix Force and now, I am just a mutant on the run from the law. I cannot go back to the X-Men for I have no place there, so what can I do? What is my purpose if I am meant to be a fugitive with no home or family? I am getting tired. I must rest now."

Piotr sadly found a spot on the ground that had a broken down mattress and he quietly laid on the mattress for some rest. While Piotr lay on the mattress, he dreamed about the X-Men, his friends that he may never see again and his lost love Kitty Pryde, who he may never sit under the sun with ever again.

The next morning…

Piotr awoke to the sun shining on his face and he breathed in a sigh of relief, for it had been a long time since he was able to appreciate the beauty of the sun, ever since he was so busy fighting enemies most of the time. He got up from the mattress, yawned and started walking towards the open entrance of the abandoned building, when all of a sudden, a large frightening looking alien jumped in front of Piotr, growling ferociously in his face. Piotr was taken aback for a moment, but being an X-Man for many years and fighting various enemies, he quickly changed into his steel form and punched the alien several miles away from the building. Piotr then quickly ran out of the building and he saw that the streets of New York City were being run with many frightening aliens like the one he just punched. All of the citizens in the city were running away from the aliens in fear of being killed by these monsters.

Piotr saw the destruction and mayhem caused by these mysterious aliens and he wanted to defeat them before they harm anymore innocent people. However, before Piotr had the chance to run out of the streets to help, the sky had suddenly grown dark as there were huge airships coming towards the city. The airships then started shooting lasers at the aliens and the aliens were disintegrated right before the citizens' eyes. One of the airships that was larger than the others, then landed on the streets of New York City and the door to the airship suddenly opened. Out stepped a man who was dressed in a white business suit and had short blue hair that was swept to the left side of his face. Once the mysterious man walked calmly to the bottom of the airship, he started speaking loudly to the citizens:

"Citizens of New York City! I am Nigel Faust, representative of the Natural Resources Division and commander of the Alien Demolisher Army and I have come to be your savior in these terrible times! It seems that aliens have overtaken our fair city with a plan to steal the Earth's precious resources and use it to power up their battalions! If this horrible deed is done, then the Earth is doomed as we know it! So, we must act now and destroy these invaders before they destroy our precious planet with the help of my armies who will provide the safety for the citizens which is needed in this hour!"

The citizens of New York City then started cheering loudly while Piotr stood around the building, unnoticed by the crowd and he started thinking to himself:

"Nigel Faust? Hmm…how could I not have heard of this man before and what does he know about the alien invasion? In fact, when was there such an invasion to begin with? This man claims that he will protect the people from the alien invaders, however, he seems shifty and mysterious to me. I must find out more about this man."

Since Piotr did not want anyone to notice him, he spotted a black cloak lying on the ground nearby and put it on himself. Then, when the airship with Nigel Faust inside started lifting off the ground, Piotr quietly sneaked about the crowd and grabbed onto the airship without anyone noticing and was riding on the airship to the mysterious destination that would lead him to Nigel Faust's quarters.


	3. Chapter 2: The Mysterious Nigel Faust

Chapter 2: The Mysterious Nigel Faust

The airship continued to sail over New York City until it reached an extremely tall glass building that was located near a large lake. The glass building was over one thousand feet tall and as the sun bore down on it, it glittered with such beauty, that anyone from miles around can see the beauty of this building. Piotr gazed at the building in such wonder, but then he remembered why he was riding on the airship and continued to concentrate on the mission at hand. The airship then headed to the back of the glass building where the lake is; however, when the airship was about to land on the lake, a secret tunnel opened up in the lake and the airship started landing inside the tunnel. Piotr looked on with awe at this new development and when the airship finally landed, Piotr quickly jumped off the airship and ran around a dark corner to hide. The door to the airship then opened and Nigel Faust stepped out of the airship with two large security guards surrounding him and started walking towards a small door at the end of the tunnel. As Nigel Faust and the security guards disappeared from the tunnel, Piotr then came out from the corner and started running towards the door that Nigel entered in and he starting following Nigel and the guards through a lavish looking hallway at a safe distance. When Nigel and the guards reached a small office at the end of the hallway, Piotr quietly stood by the door to the office, trying not to be seen. Nigel than began talking to his security guards about his plans:

"Well, gentlemen, I think that we have really proven ourselves to the citizens of New York today. Those miserable aliens did not know what was coming when we arrived in the airships attacking them out of the city! However, it seems that our "negotiator" was impressed by today's performance and wants to congratulate us on a job well done."

"Performance?" thought Piotr worriedly. What was going on? Suddenly, Piotr felt a gun being pushed up his back and heard a low voice, "Back away from the wall, dirt bag."

"You do not wish to threaten me in this manner, _**tovarisch**_," said Piotr slowly.

"Oh, a guy with a funny accent, eh? What nationality are you? European or something?" sneer the guard holding the gun.

"You will see soon enough," said Piotr and then he turned his body to steel and suddenly grabbed the guard and started gripping him in a death grip where he was slightly squeezing the guard, careful not to kill him but just simply make him unconscious. Unfortunately, even though Piotr succeeded in knocking the guard unconscious, several other guards suddenly came running up towards Piotr and had him surrounded.

"Well, well, well! It appears that we have an intruder in our midst, gentlemen! Or should I say, a fugitive?" said a slick voice behind Piotr.

Piotr stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to see Nigel Faust standing right at the doorway of his office. Piotr then cursed himself for being so reckless, but said politely to Nigel, "Nigel Faust, I presume?"

"Yes, and you must be…Colossus," said Nigel coolly.

"How do you know my name?" asked Piotr.

"Oh, it's not that surprising that I see your name on the wanted posters these days. It's amazing how the law had never caught up to you yet. Although, I have a mind to call the law enforcements right now, unless you tell me what you are doing here," said Nigel quietly yet in a dangerous tone.

Piotr thought quickly and then said, "Umm…I had heard so much about your accomplishments that I wanted to visit you in person. I guess I got a bit too excited and started wandering around the building until I got lost and ended up here. I know that I should have contacted you first about my coming here, but I just could not resist meeting you in person!"

Piotr privately hoped that Nigel would buy that lie, even though he was never very good at lying. But, Nigel just looked at Piotr with a cool gaze and said, "That's alright. I didn't notice that I have many…fans. Gentlemen, please escort Colossus to the exit and make sure that the security in this building is handled much better in the future. And also do something about the guard that is lying unconscious in the hallway."

The two guards then took Piotr away and left him outside of the building and went back inside. Piotr then looked up at the building and said to himself, "This is very strange indeed. I was not able to get enough information about this man, but from what I have heard from his conversation about his "performance," he cannot be trusted. I must watch out for him."

As Piotr walked away from the building, Nigel was looking down at Piotr through the window of his office. Nigel then told his guards, "Gentlemen, it seems that Colossus seems to know too much about our plans. We must keep him…busy so that way our plans will never be discovered."

Later on…

Piotr was walking down the streets of New York City, witnessing the destruction of the city caused by the alien attack early on. As Piotr gazed around the streets, he started to remember about when he was the avatar of the Cyttorak and how he had ran rampant in the streets in order to defeat Cain Marko's reign of terror. These were memories that Piotr wished that he could forget since they were extremely painful for him. Suddenly, Piotr heard high-pitched screams coming from the top of a building and he saw yet another alien being attacking an innocent bystander.

"Another alien attack?" Piotr asked puzzled.

Piotr wasted no time in running towards the building and once he reached the top of the building, he grabbed the alien and threw him several feet across the streets. Piotr looked on with satisfaction on his face, not noticing that another alien was watching him from above. The other alien then jumped on Piotr's back and caused Piotr to struggle with the alien as he tried to get the alien off of him. As Piotr was struggling with the alien, he and the alien were suddenly blown off the build by a big explosion. As Piotr landed on the ground, he then looked up to see where the explosion came from and out from the smoke, stood an African-American man who had tattoos all over his body. When the alien, who was on Piotr moments ago, saw the man and tried to attack him, the mysterious man suddenly slashed the alien in the belly and dark purple blood squirted out of the alien's body.

Piotr stared at the man in shock and then asked, "Who are you?"

The mysterious man just looked at Piotr with a wide smile on his face and said, "Just a friend, buddy! Just a friend!"


	4. Chapter 3: A New Friend!

Chapter 3: A New Friend!

"A…friend?" Piotr asked the mysterious man. As Piotr looked at this man, he noticed that this man was not quite as ordinary as any other human being he has seen. For one thing, how often is it that a human being would suddenly jump out in a cloud of smoke and slice open an alien in a few seconds? Another thing that was odd about this man was that he had white tattoos all over his body, although his black jumpsuit was covering his body head to toe. The man's eyes were a deep brown color that really made him look quite distinguished and his hair was in dreadlocks that were tied up in a ponytail. Piotr cautiously approached the man and asked again, "Who are you?"

"Ah, I could ask the same about you. Now, don't take this the wrong way or anything, but you have one weird accent. Is it European?" asked the man.

"Russian," said Piotr, a bit annoyed.

"Oh, so that's what it is! Well, I might as well introduce myself then. I'm Jerome Brown and I can tell by the look on your face that you're wondering how I am able to produce knives out of nowhere." Jerome than produced the knives from his hands and then they disappeared quickly. "It's because I am an alchemist. Well, not exactly. I'm actually a mutant who has the ability to produce weapons out of my bare hands. I also can cause small explosions by creating bombs out of my hands."

Piotr just looked at Jerome in surprise and said, "I have never seen another mutant who could produce weapons out of their hands before. How…"

Piotr was then interrupted by some yells at the bottom of the building.

"Well, it seems that we have some fans down there," said Jerome.

"Fans?" Piotr said puzzled.

"You'll see," said Jerome and he and Piotr headed down to the bottom of the building to meet up with the people. Unfortunately, when the people saw that Jerome and Piotr were mutants, they started screaming at them:

"Mutant scum! They brought that alien here to attack our city!" yelled one of the protesters.

"Get out of here you stinking mutants! We don't want you here!" cried the protesters as they started throwing rocks and trash at Piotr and Jerome. Piotr and Jerome than ran away from the protesters and came upon an abandoned part of the city.

"Man! We just don't catch a break here!" said Jerome irritated.

"Well, this certainly was not the first time this has happened to me, my friend," said Piotr, "This is just the tragic life of being a mutant."

"Yeah, don't I know it? Hey, now that we are on speaking terms, I forgot to ask your name. What is your name?" asked Jerome.

"Umm…I am…" Piotr stuttered, not wanting to give away his name or his X-Men codename.

"Say, you wouldn't happened to be one of the mutants that the Avengers are chasing after, are you?" asked Jerome.

Piotr stiffened at Jerome's inquiry and Jerome quickly said, "Hey, hey, don't worry. I'm not going to turn you in. Colossus is it?"

Piotr nodded slowly and Jerome continued, "Well, you don't have to worry about me turning you in or anything. Actually, I should say that you and me are in the same boat as in we both seem to be running away from the law."

Piotr looked surprised and said, "You are on the run from the law also? But what did you do that would make the police come after you?"

Jerome looked down on the ground for a second and then looked up at Piotr and said, "I'll tell you more about it later. For now, let's find a place to crash for the night."

"Wait a minute. Forgive me for saying this, but I do not know you very well and well, I am on the run from the law and it is hard for me at the moment to go off with anyone," said Piotr miserably.

"That's alright. I understand your situation and I can see why you wouldn't trust me at the moment, but like I said, I'll explain more about myself once we find a place to crash. You got a place where we could go to?" asked Jerome.

"Well, there is this old abandoned building I stayed at last night. It is not much, but it will have to do at the moment," said Piotr.

"That's fine! Let's go!" said Jerome, following Piotr.

Piotr and Jerome then went to the old building that Piotr had stayed at last night and the two mutants went to the old mattress and sat down on it.

"Nice place, for your typical old abandoned building," said Jerome impressed.

"Yes, it is. So, about what you had said earlier, why are you on the run from the law?" asked Piotr.

"Well, here's my story and since it's really tragic, I don't normally discuss this with anyone else, but here it goes. Like many mutants at a young age, I was seven years old when I first discovered my mutant powers and even though I've learned how to create things out of my hands, I still couldn't get control of handling the explosions whenever I created bombs. My parents were at first shocked about my new powers and the fact that I was able to create weapons, for my parents despised weapons of any kind. But, my parents really did love me and they tried to keep my powers a secret from the world. But one tragic day, there was a leak somehow that I was able to create weapons out of my hands and the neighbors thought that I was a walking nuclear bomb and they wanted to kill me before I discovered my full potential. My parents tried to protect me from the mutant protesters, but…" Jerome paused and took a deep breath and said, "But they were shot by the protesters and died right in front of my eyes."

Piotr looked shocked and then said, "Oh Jerome, I am so sorry for your loss."

Jerome nodded and then continued, "Well, my troubles didn't end there. After I saw my parents' lifeless bodies on the ground, I just lost control of my powers and ended up throwing bombs all over the place, blowing up not only the protesters, but my home too."

Jerome wiped at his eyes and sighed.

"What did you do after that horrible event?" asked Piotr.

"Well, after that tragic event, I just ran away from it all. I was only a child at the time and I didn't know what to do. After I ran away, the police came and surveyed the area and they guessed that a mutant was responsible for the destruction. Worst yet, they found out that I had lived there and tried to take me into custody. But I escaped and the police never found me and for the past twenty years, I was living on my own, trying to gain a new identity for myself so no one will find me again. You're actually the only person that I have told my story to, since I saw that you were in the same situation as I was," said Jerome.

Piotr looked down and then said, "Are the police still looking for you?"

"To be honest, it's been years since I've last check up on the police, so it's possible that they're still after me. That's why I always have to be careful where I go in case the police find me again," said Jerome.

"Well, I supposed that we are fugitives together," said Piotr.

"Yep! Fugitives now and forever," said Jerome jokily.

Piotr laughed and then Jerome's beeper started to beep and then Jerome said, "Oh! I got something I need to do really quickly! I guess I'll see you later!"

"But wait! Is it something urgent that you might need some assistance on?" asked Piotr concerned.

"Nope! It's just one of my daily routines that I usually do during the day and I really got to get to it! Well, it was nice meeting you! Bye, Colossus!" Jerome then ran out of the building and disappeared into the streets.

Piotr watched Jerome and he said to himself, "Hmm…that is one unusual man right there. I wonder if I will truly see him again."

Piotr then put on his cloak and started walking out into the streets, trying to find some way to make it through the day in one piece.


	5. Chapter 4: The Birth of Red Steel!

Chapter 4: The Birth of Red Steel!

Back at Nigel Faust's headquarters, an alien was running towards the doors of the headquarters and was admitted in by Nigel's guards. This was the same alien that Piotr had thrown across the streets of New York City and the alien had somehow landed near Nigel Faust's building, with only a few injuries. Once the alien reached Nigel's office, Nigel was working on some papers when he looked up and saw the alien standing in the doorway and said, "Well, well, well, what have we here? You seem to have run to my headquarters in a hurry. Well, come in so we could…talk."

The exhausted alien slowly came inside Nigel's office and Nigel said, "Well, did you complete your job?"

The alien was silent for a moment and then he started speaking to Nigel in an alien language that only Nigel could somehow understand. Nigel looked at the alien with a cold look in his eyes and he said, "So, in other words, not only have you failed to annihilate our…problem, but our problem seems to have gain an ally…an ally that I thought I had eliminated years ago."

Nigel then slowly walked up to the alien, who was trying to back away from him, and he told the alien, "I don't like failures and you have failed to eliminate the problem that could cause our plans to falter in an extreme level. Do you know what I do with failures like you?"

The alien started to whimper constantly as Nigel got closer and when Nigel touched the alien on its stomach, the alien started screaming as its body started to shrivel like a raisin. Once Nigel pulled his hand away, the alien fell to the ground in a white, papery mess and Nigel said to himself, "Well, if you can't use an alien to take out your problems, you have to do it yourself."

Meanwhile in the afternoon…

Jerome was walking through the streets of New York when he came across a secret entranceway at the bottom of one of the unknown buildings. Jerome whips out a remote control and presses a red button on it and the doorway to the entranceway opens and Jerome quickly goes inside. Inside the entranceway was a large den that was filled with numerous computers and weapons that were created by Jerome himself and Jerome approaches a large computer mainframe that was located in the middle of the den.

Jerome presses a few buttons on the computer mainframe and said, "Computer, tell me about the whereabouts of 'Nigel Faust.'

The computer mainframe then pulled up several locations in New York City and it located Nigel's building that was near a lake.

"Computer, maximize screen to pinpoint on Nigel Faust himself and turn up the volume to follow Nigel Faust's speech patterns," said Jerome to the computer.

The computer zeroed in on Nigel Faust and the volume was turned up to follow Nigel's speech patterns. Nigel was saying to his guards, "Gentlemen, it appears that the alien that we had sent to destroy our problem has failed to complete his task and our plans are now in jeopardy. We must eliminate this problem ourselves if our plans are meant to succeed and that problem is none other than COLOSSUS, the fugitive!"

Jerome looked on in shock and said to himself, "What does Colossus have to do with all this and what is Nigel planning? I got to figure this all out before it's too late!"

Later that night…

Piotr was still walking down the streets of New York City when he suddenly heard police sirens in the distance and he ducked behind an old building to hide. From his hidden position, Piotr then saw a couple of police cars patrolling the area and then he gasped when he saw that the Avengers were among them!

"Have you've seen any sign of the fugitives from the Phoenix Five?" Captain America asked one of the police officers.

"No sir. But, we will let you know if we have any leads on any members of the Phoenix Five," the police chief responded to Captain America.

"Oh no! The Avengers are with the police! If they see me, I will be arrested and I might never get a chance to explain my side of the story! I must find a safer place to hide!" said Piotr to himself.

Piotr quietly sneaked away from the area and approached the empty roads of New York City and started walking down them.

"How did things ever come down to this? I was once a hero along with the X-Men and now I am a fugitive on the run! How can I make things right again?" Piotr said sadly to himself.

Piotr than sat down on the sidewalk to think on his predicament. He did not know what to do about his predicament and he feared that he may never be the hero that he once was. Not with the destruction that the Phoenix Force had caused around the world hanging over his head. Piotr then looked down at his cloak that he had taken off a few minutes ago and then he had an idea and said to himself, "Well, I may be a fugitive on the run, but I am still an X-Man whose sole mission is to protect innocents from any harm and I think I know how to accomplish that!" With a small smile on his face, Piotr than raced back to the building he was staying at, determined to put his plan into action.

A few hours later…

A young woman was walking through the streets of New York City alone at night, trying to get back home after working at the medical center. Even though she normally comes home at this time, since the aliens had started invading New York City, she started feeling uncomfortable about being alone at night. Just as the woman was near her apartment, a large alien creature suddenly jumped in front of her and caused the woman to scream wildly. The alien creature then started approaching the young woman while hissing in a menacing manner when all of a sudden, a low rumbling voice echoed through the streets.

"I would not harm that young woman if I were you, _**tovarisch. You might find yourself in an unlucky position that would cause you great pain."**_

Suddenly, a large red figure came up behind the alien and grabbed the alien by its neck. The large figure then proceeded to lift the alien in the air and slammed the alien on the ground, instantly killing the alien.

The young woman then looked up at the large red figure in shock, but was entirely grateful that the red figure had saved her life and she asked the figure, "Who are you?"

The red figure was dressed in a red jumpsuit that covered his entire body and was wearing a red mask over his face. However, the red figure's face seem to shine in a way that steel would shine in any kind of light, making him seem like a familiar character.

The large red figure smiled at the young woman and then introduced himself and said, "Well Miss, I am known as Red Steel and I am New York City's newest savior!"


End file.
